Colbert, Kimmel, and Lydic look at this week's 'shock and awful'

I'm returning to reality filtered through comedy as the shortest month of the year ends, beginning with Stephen Colbert's monologue from last night, MAGA Gets Buyer's Remorse | Coffee, Eggs, And Potato Chip Prices Spike | Anti-Aging Pill For Dogs.

Some Trump voters regret sending him back to the White House because he's doing nothing to lower prices on everyday items like coffee and potato chips, and there's a new medicine that might extend your dog's lifespan by years.

"Shock and awful" — that's the perfect phrase to describe the circus of tariffs, Musk taking over government computers, mass deportations, Trump's wild idea about Gaza, and his designs on Greenland and Canada, so I'm borrowing it. Add to all those the fallout from bird flu Should Have Killed One Billion People' as well as potentially mishandling seasonal flu and things could get even worse. Ugh, RFK Jr. He got an even bigger boo than the Secretary of Agriculture, who was booed just because she was in Hoover Cleveland's administration. People know who he is!

Jimmy Kimmel examined even more in Team Trump Screws Up Epstein List Release, Donald Hocks Golden Dollars & GOP Complains About Elon.

Elon Musk is still going with his Chainsaw Massacre of our federal workforce, Guillermo lists the five things he did at work this week, a group of Republican Senators met privately with the White House to complain about Elon’s impulsive and haphazard cuts, companies owned by Elon Musk have been the recipients of more than $30 billion from our government, Trump is now hocking dollar bills made of gold, and he is meeting with President Zelensky of Ukraine to discuss what is being called a “reconstruction investment fund,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi announced that a list of Epstein clients and his flight logs would be released today (they were not), instead they released a binder full of information everyone already had, people keep forgetting that Trump and Epstein were good friends, and in honor of the Oscars we took to Hollywood Blvd for a new edition of “Breaking the News.”

"Elon Musk's...Chainsaw Massacre of our federal workforce" — that's another phrase worth stealing! Speaking of stealing, I wish I were surprised that the FAA may cancel a contract with Verizon and replace it with Starlink. That's the kind of conflict of interest having Musk involved with DOGE his critics feared. Time to recycle my comment on May 2022 Open Post at Ecosophia.net.

You pointed out four years ago that Elon Musk's fortune and the success of his companies were both built on government subsidies. American liberals may not have liked Musk for being a billionaire, but they generally quietly ignored what you pointed out as long as they thought he was on their side. Now that he is trying to buy Twitter, potentially ruining their venue for activism and entertainment, then announced that he wasn't on their side, they are all over that fact. They've also called into question the purported technological achievements of his companies and realized a lot of their value springs from faith in Musk himself. His companies' stock prices are now collapsing, which was one of the "black swan" events Lathechuck postulated in the comments four years ago. I don't suppose you are surprised by any of this, are you?

He wasn't. In fact, he joked that he was bored by it. Just the same, liberals and progressives were right about his effect on X, the site formerly known as Twitter. It's one of the main reasons we've moved to Bluesky.

Jimmy K's using Lauren Boebert's misspelling and misunderstanding of disdain to call for not eliminating the Department of Education, one of Project 2025's goals, reminds me that I haven't mentioned that Boebert has a GED, not a regular high school diploma before. It shows.

It also reminds me of what I wrote in I ask The Archdruid and his readers 'Can you show us on the doll exactly where the educated professionals hurt you?' A Festivus airing of grievances.

[O]ne of the recurring themes in the comments to No More Mister Nice Blog, particularly from Yastreblyansky at The Rectification of Names, that a lot of the "working class" supporters of Trump based on their educational levels are actually small business owners, the petite bourgeoisie. Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene come to mind. Both were small business owners before being elected to Congress, which adds new meaning to "petty bourgeoisie."

Speaking of Greene, she makes a cameo in Are Democrats Taking the Rizz Out of Resistance in Their Opposition to Trump? | The Daily Show.

Desi Lydic rates the Democratic Party's methods of opposing Trump on the cringe-o-meter: from off-key protest chants to interpretive dance to podcasts. Plus, with so many Dems saying "F**k Trump," Grace Kuhlenschmidt thinks that might just be a great idea.

As silly as it looks, I'm not surprised the most interesting grassroots protest was by dancers at the Kennedy Center; Silly and serious closer looks at Trump taking over the Kennedy Center was the most popular post this month. As I repeated then, "the surest way to get Americans to act is to mess with their entertainm­ent" and "America is quite clear about its screwed up priorities­." Speaking of screwed up, or just plain screwed, Grace Kuhlenschmidt might be onto something, except I don't think that will make Hoover Cleveland treat Democrats any better, just keep him busy. Besides, his supporters might get off on it.

That's a wrap for February. Stay tuned for an Oscars post to kick off March.